Patience – A Desert Wisdom Card

September 15, 2014 by 1 Comment

Patience © 2014 Bo Mackison

“Patience is not passive resignation, nor is it failing to act because of our fears. Patience means active waiting and enduring. It means staying with something and doing all that we can – working, hoping, and exercising faith; bearing hardship with fortitude, even when the desires of our hearts are delayed. Patience is not simply enduring; it is enduring well!  ~ Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Patience. Certainly a wisdom gift of the desert. Certainly a quality required when one is actually walking/living/being in the desert, and for those desert-like times when life feels arid and silent, or overwhelming and fragmented.

I love this photograph, a photo taken at Mission San  Xavier del Bac, a mission church in southern Arizona built in the 1700s. The church took decades to build by hand with primitive tools.

There were no supplies of paint or marble or fabric. Even the wood had to be hauled from a distance of twenty miles.  They built the walls with lime-kiln clay. They carved statues from wood and dyed them brilliant colors using both native dyes and imported gilding. They carved shells, roping, and drapery-like sculptures for windows ornamentation and the choir.  They painted wall murals and patterned arches. They sculpted a baptismal font and painted it to look like marble.

Works of art that required patience and determination, and which are still in use, and honored by the present day parishioners.

“A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us.” ~ Henri J.M. Nouwen

In the photo, I stand in the shadows.

Waiting. Watching. Questioning.

Listening to the Silence.

Practicing patience.

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Challenge – A Desert Wisdom Card

March 15, 2014 by 3 Comments
Challenge

Approaching Storm © 2014 Bo Mackison

Sometimes the darkest challenges, the most difficult lessons, hold the greatest gems of light. ~ Barbara Marciniak

The desert is not all cacti and spaciousness.

Although much of the land is open, some desert habitats, especially the desert scrub lands, are open range.  An occasional four strand barbwire fence follows the roadways, separating cattle from vehicles, and these barbed wire fences get entangled with clusters of tumble weed. Bare branched mesquite trees add a touch of the macabre. High winds and encroaching dark clouds transform the high desert into a scene evoking apprehension and concern.

Traveling the back roads in the desert region is one of my joys, but it is not without its dangers.

When storms approach without warning and the winds blow sands that block my vision, I must deal with challenges of rough weather. I usually find a place to shelter, knowing that I have packed enough supplies to see me through a delay. And while I am frightened at times by the stormy weather, once the clouds move on and the sun rays filter through the clouds, I appreciate the desert-scape bathed in golden light.

Without dark clouds and stormy weather for comparison, I wouldn’t be as appreciative of blue skies and gentle desert breezes.

There are no great people in this world, only great challenges which ordinary people rise to meet. ~ William Frederick Halsey, Jr.

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This is the second card in the preview of the second series of the Desert Wisdom Cards, now in the production stage. The words on the new series of cards are letter pressed, the 16 photographs for the second set are chosen and printed. The cards are mostly cut and trimmed. Still to come are  assembly, packaging, and creating a new folio for this series. I’ll announce availability (soon) on my blog and in my newsletter.

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Awakening – A Desert Wisdom Card

March 12, 2014 by 5 Comments
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Awaken to the Day © 2014 Bo Mackison

Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it. ~ Anne “Ninon” de L’Enclos

Sunlight peeks through the glimmering clouds.

The quails are scurrying from one pile of desert brush to the next, intent on crossing the arroyo unseen. Their camouflage antics are erratic, hesitant, but successful. The hummingbirds whirr about the spiky penstemon, drawing sweet nectar from the deep pink throats of the flowers. A cottontail, still like a garden ornament, hides under cover of the prickly pear. A roadrunner dances along the edge of the rocky arroyo edge, dipping his tail, flitting along.

All are alert. The world awakens as I watch the dawn break into day.

“We all woke up this morning and we had with it the amazing return of our conscious mind. We recovered minds with a complete sense of self and a complete sense of our own existence — yet we hardly ever pause to consider this wonder.”
~ Antonio R. Damasio, Self Comes to Mind: Constructing the Conscious Brain.

Each morning we awaken to a new day, with routine experiences and unexpected opportunities.

How can I prepare so that I wake refreshed and ready to experience each moment of this precious, never-before-experienced day? How will I go through my day alert to the possibilities, aware of the gifts and offerings that are constantly present?

Am I awake to the gentle nudges, fleeting ideas, serendipitous encounters?

“Once the soul awakens, the search begins and you can never go back. From then on, you are inflamed with a special longing that will never again let you linger in the lowlands of complacency and partial fulfillment. The eternal makes you urgent. You are loath to let compromise or the threat of danger hold you back from striving toward the summit of fulfillment.”
~ John O’Donohue, Anam Cara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

What makes you feel awake and alive?

What energizes you? What happenings and experiences feel expansive and joyful? How might you incorporate bits of joy into your daily activities?

“Wander around wonder for awhile and awaken wisdom within.”
~ Soul Dancer

Wander. Wonder. Awaken.

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Today I introduce the second series of the Desert Wisdom Cards, now in the production stage.  Here is a preview of the AWAKENING card. The words on the new series of cards are letter pressed, the 16 photographs for the second set are chosen and being readied for printing. Still to come are paper cutting, assembly, packaging, and creating a new folio for this series. I’ll announce availability (soon) on my blog and in my newsletter.

 

 

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Generosity – A Desert Wisdom Card

May 30, 2013 by 8 Comments
Completion - A Desert Wisdom Card

Seed Pod © 2013 Bo Mackison

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
  ~ Kahlil Gibran

The four chambers of the seed pod are empty.

The seeds are scattered, and the earth is gifted with the possibility of new life. The seed pod has done its part.

Nature supports us with no request for thanks. The seeds open. The sun rises and sets. Plants grow, flower, set fruit, set seed. The seeds are dispersed, the cycle continues.

“For it is in giving that we receive.” St. Francis of Assisi

When we give of ourselves, when we give from our heart, we pass on our gifts and in doing so we also are the recipient.

The gift to oneself is in the giving — no expectations, no reciprocity, no keeping score. How our gift is received is not within our control, nor is it the reason for gifting. True generosity is unconditional generosity.

The wise man does not lay up his own treasures. The more he gives to others, the more he has for his own. ~ Lao Tzu

GENEROSITY offers questions/reflections for journal writing, art activities, calls for action:

  •  Time is a precious commodity, perhaps even more so than money. The pithy advice from Ben Franklin – “Time is money.” – encourages us to value productivity. But sometimes wasting time is exactly what we need. Thich Nhat Hanh offers this life recipe: “Smile, breathe and go slowly.” Consider stretching a five-minute walk into a ten-minute walk simply for the experience. No reminders to smell the roses, practice mindfulness – simply walk at a slower pace and notice what happens. A tiny gift of generosity to oneself primes the pump to practice generosity.
  • Generosity with one’s thoughts requires no planning, no financial encumbrance. Mental gifting of a blessing, a prayer, a kind thought reaps benefits for both the giver and the recipient. A simple Buddhist teaching, the Metta Chant, offers generous thoughts for all. “May all beings be well and safe, may they be at ease.” It is easy to remember and repeat frequently, although it can be a challenge to apply this gift to all equally.
  • Consider adopting a practice of generosity. Abandon a gift — a handwritten copy of a poem, an uplifting message, a small piece of art — where someone will unexpectedly find it, perhaps on a bench or hanging from a low branch of a tree. Attach a note of explanation that this is a gift for the finder.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

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Imagination – A Desert Wisdom Card

May 10, 2013 by 4 Comments
Imagination - Desert Wisdom Card

Ocotillo Birds ©2013 Bo Mackison

But if we learn to read the signs of life all around us, and if we discover that we are indeed created to be creative, then we can rediscover the power and resourcefulness of imagination — another aspect of soul.
~ Marjory Zoet Bankson

Ocotillo bloom throughout the Sonoran Desert.

They are one of the most reliable flowering plants in the Sonoran Desert, so reliable that migrations of hummingbirds rely on its nectar for sustenance. The bright orange spires pop from the ends of the ocotillo branches in wildly imaginative clusters.

Whenever I see clusters of ocotillo in bloom, my imagination awakens.

I see images of fluttering birds, or celebratory pennants waving twenty feet in the air. When the spent blossoms drift to the ground, I imagine the pavement studded with orange sapphires or paper confetti. What a rich life one has with an imagination unleashed!

Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and, therefore, the foundation of all invention and innovation…it is the power that enables us to empathize with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
~ J.K. Rowling

Imagination not only allows us to expand creative thinking, it also encourages new thoughts, connections, and understanding. It allows us to travel where we have never been, to dream of possibilities, and to identify with strangers as fellow members of humankind.

Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.
~ Gloria Steinem

IMAGINATION offers questions/reflections for journal writing, an art prompt, and a call for action:

  • Imagine the life of an acquaintance or even a stranger. In your imagination, compare and contrast your lives. Reflect on the above quote from J.K. Rowling as she equates the power to imagine with the power to empathize.
  • Spend fifteen minutes (or more) letting your mind wander. Imagine “what if?” Day dream. Doodle or draw while you are noodling with your mind. Yes, doodles can count as journaling, but also include words or phrases, if desired.
  • Art Prompt: Try this activity on a sunny day when you are indoors. Notice the shadows that reflect on the interior walls from the window light. Capture these shapes with a camera or sketch them on paper. Let the wall shadows trigger your imagination. Embellish the shadow photos or drawings using your imagination.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  Bo is creating a deck of Desert Wisdom Cards for exploration and discovery, using photography, with a Sonoran Desert theme – its myths and stories, cultures and heritage, and the desert’s remarkable natural beauty and resources.

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